Finn Harps 2 Drogheda United 2
Substitute Ryan Brennan was the hero for Drogheda United as he snatched a late goal to give his side a share of the spoils after an absorbing encounter at Finn Park.
Harps looked to be on course for a first home win of the Premier Division campaign as they came from behind to lead at the break, and then had the better chances in the second half.
But the Louth side extended their unbeaten run against Harps to six games thanks to Brennan’s late strike.
Drogheda got off to a wonderful start by taking the lead after just five minutes. Darragh Nugent did the spade work on the right side of the box and found James Clarke in space and he drilled the ball past debutant Gavin Mulreany, and just inside the post.
Harps drew level in the 22nd minute. Sam Long did well to block an initial shot from Yoyo Mahdy but the ball spun back into the path of the latter and he duly found the supporting Eric McWoods, who crashed the ball into the net.
Harps went in front on 44 minutes with McWoods again in the thick of things, this time providing the cross for Filip Mihaljevic to meet at the far post and head the ball back across the face of goal for Mahdy to connect with and score from close range.
The home side had the better of the second half and in the 79th minute Mahdy almost got a third after a McWoods cross but Drogheda managed to clear the ball off the line.
But Brennan then scored on 85 minutes to level the score and Long then made a top-drawer save to thwart Mahdy and keep it at 2-2.
FINN HARPS: Mulreany; Rainey, Boyle, Tourish, Slevin; McWoods, N'Zeyi, Connolly; McNamee (Timlin, 89 mins); Mahdy, Mihaljevic (Hery, 75 mins).
DROGHEDA UNITED: Long; Poynton, Cowan, Massey, Weir; Grimes (Brennan, 60 mins), Deegan, Clarke, Nugent (Heeney, 69 mins), Rooney; Williams (Lyons, 60 mins).
Referee: O Moran (Dublin).
